The Best Parenting Style? What Fits Your Kid’s Personality

Maybe you’ve already figured out your parenting style — good cop or bad cop, laid-back or strict. But it might actually be best to base your style to your kid’s temperament. According to a story in The Washington Post, parents who look at their child’s personality traits and tailor their parenting styles may be able to deal with problems more effectively. The New York Longitudinal Study looked at a group of children from birth to adulthood in 1956 — researchers found that children could be put into three categories: easy, difficult and slow to warm up. They observed how parents’ behaviors and personalities matched up with the kids’ and noted what worked and what didn’t.

Experts say that if parents don’t adapt their parenting styles to their child’s behavior, there could be some problems, like if a child is hyper-active with a passive or lethargic parent, the child will be under stimulated. Or if the child is very stubborn and willful with a passive parent, he’ll get to do whatever he wants and might become spoiled. Also, parents’ moods affect their children too. If a parent is really moody, the child might be withdrawn because he doesn’t want to upset his mom or dad. In other words, if you’re struggling with your child’s behavior or in communicating with him, you might want to switch things up.

Have you adapted your parenting style to fit your child’s behavior? Do you think this works?